Get on TOP

Being an entrepreneur and running your own business is now more trendy than ever. For those who are new to the game think they can simply be current on social platforms and neglect the power of search and top of page Google placement. Us old dogs that have been at the game for awhile know all about SEO struggles and playing by Google’s rules. As painful as it can be, when done correctly leveraging top search placements can be very lucrative for your business. So don’t lose focus on SEO, local search listings and competitor’s keyword placement.

The truth is everything is becoming digital due to its immediacy, efficiency, and the ability to reach more people, so naturally the business world is following suit. Being an owner of the company it is your responsibility to ensure that you don’t get left behind. It’s just another thing to add to the massive list attached to being a business owner. The easy way out is simple; hire someone that knows how to do it.

More often than not businesses we talk to struggle with understanding the ever changing tech space and typically only focus on one aspect of marketing online. Trying to understand the intricacies of the Internet can be a struggle for those not knowledgeable in the subject and knowing where to start can be a major pain in the ass… so why start at all? I can’t remember the last time I heard a business say they don’t have a website, or comments like “ My website sucks,” or “My website brings in zero traffic.” You have already invested in building a website so, why not schedule some time every week to add value to it and understand what Google is looking for? Below are some simple guidelines to help stay on top of Google and SEO in 2019.

These steps should help you learn the basics of how to stay on top of Google that will benefit your company long term.

#1 – Competitor Keyword Analysis

Whatever type of business you run, you will have competitors trying to sell similar products to yours. This is just a part of running a business. You may not be first, you may not even be the best, but if your brand is current, open and honest with real content you will likely come out ahead.

Competing against them means you want to ensure that you are visible online, and getting that top spot on Google is the ultimate goal, but how do you do this effectively? The answer is…. competitor keyword analysis.

One of the most effective ways to compete is to gain an advantage over your competitors and you do this by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of what they are already doing to see how you could do it better.

A competitor keyword analysis is very similar except you are narrowing it down to just looking at the keywords your competitors are using and seeing what is and isn’t successful. It is one of the best methods of competing when you want one of the top spots in the search engine and want to stay there.

Choosing the right keywords are imperative. For example, if you sell windows you need to find something specific in your niche because when someone types in ‘Windows’ it could bring up millions of sites. However, understanding more selective keywords like “Metal Clad Windows” could deliver more search results that are less competitive and cheaper to purchase with Google Adwords. By using the competitor keyword analysis and paying for these keywords through Google AdWords, you could find yourself pushing your way through and driving traffic to your site over a competitor in a relatively short period of time when done correctly.

#2 – Keep Up To Date With Google Updates

To keep on top of Google, you need to keep up to date and in sync with how they rank websites with their specific algorithms. Google will update very frequently, so if you have noticed a slight drop in the traffic that is coming to your website, it could be because Google has ranked important ranking factors differently.

The reasons behind these updates are because Google is constantly looking for ways to stop the low-quality sites pushing through into the top rankings to ensure that companies such as yourselves get the traffic you deserve.

The most recent update that they have released is all about having high-quality pages that are of a high level of E-A-T. This new Google acronym stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.

Some of the things they expect you to have included:

Enough high-quality content

A positive reputation

Links to reputable sources

Your website works efficiently and fast

Your website being maintained and updated regularly

#3 – Local SEO

It’s not just the algorithms that will affect where your website ranks, but also practicing local SEO. Having a website that is SEO friendly is one of the top components to ranking high in Google but focusing on local SEO is very different and can be a very effective marketing method to gain more traffic and ultimately help grow your business.

Most companies will have SEO practices in place so they can rank high, but having local SEO will ensure that when more specific searches are put in, i.e. if they search for ‘best coffee shops near me,’ you are found quickly and easily, and rank high in the Google search. By adding their location to the search, they have turned it into a local search instead of a standard one.

You should provide as much information about where you are based on your website so Google can pull this up quickly. People will make an instant decision on what they see and if you don’t give them easy access about who you are, what you sell and where you are based, you could be missing out.

#4 – Great Quality Content

When Google ranks your website, one of the vital things they will be basing it on is the quality of your content and the frequency that it is updated. When we say high-quality, we don’t just mean being consistent with spelling, grammar and formatting, but actually the topics you are writing about.

When choosing the topic to write about, follow your brand and strategy meetings. These topics can be discussed with your entire team far in advance of actually writing the article. Far too often small businesses hear from their digital agency that they need more content, then sit down on a Tuesday after lunch and write something down and say “here ya go, content.” Don’t underestimate the power of planning your content strategy. Put the topics in your calendar and consistently create content or assign the task to other team members. There are lots of tools to help with the structure and formatting once the content is written, install apps like YOAST or Hemingway to help guide you in effective content structure.

These applications help with the content you are uploading to have a readability factor that meets the needs of Google algorithms and best practices for engaging content.

Your content needs to be:

Original

Relevant

Effective

Actionable

Full of answers

Accurate

Thought provoking

One way you can increase the traffic to your website is by doing link building which is a type of marketing that will navigate the reader from one website to another through a hyperlink.

We will be posting future posts on link building and how to improve using this tactic to increase ranking with Google search. Of course if you ever have questions about online search or SEO hit us up with an email or DM and we will do our best to help out.

More post will be coming soon on different tactics for delivering the most attention to your brand so please check back soon and often.